


History Between Us

by Ekhwanders



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-21 13:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13741575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ekhwanders/pseuds/Ekhwanders
Summary: Nicole Haught doesn't expect to have to take a local history class when she starts with the Purgatory Sheriff's department. She's even more surprised when she meets the incredibly brilliant and incredibly beautiful teacher.





	History Between Us

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry it's been so long since I posted. Life, man. Hope y'all enjoy this one.

Nicole Haught hadn’t known what to expect when her new boss, Sheriff Randy Nedley, had required her to take a local history course at the county’s community college. On one hand, she loved history; and from what little information Ghost River Triangle’s Community College had available on ratemyprofessor.com, the two reviewers had given really high ratings on her professor. Both reviewers, one male and one female, had both given her 5.0 ratings despite ranking the class a 3.0 difficulty. They had also both given her five chili peppers of hotness. On the other hand, Nicole had just gone to college, passed with well over a 3.0, and then been top of her class at the Sheriff’s academy. She wasn’t looking forward to more homework, on top of regular work, with the added stress of her boss wanting to see her grades for everything. But she was getting paid to go, and the teacher was apparently Wyatt Earp’s great-great-granddaughter. So, at the very least, it should prove to be an interesting perspective on local history.  


She had opted to take the earliest class possible, 8:00-8:50 wanting to get it out of the way every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She had worked it out with Nedley that she would work evening shifts on those days and work morning shifts on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That was a serious benefit. It was rare for rookies to get weekends off, and she had locked it in for the first four months.  


It was the first day of class, 6:30 in the morning, and Nicole had no idea what to wear. It was a Community College, but she was also there representing the local Sheriff’s Department. As much as she didn’t want to wear sweat pants and a T-shirt, that felt more appropriate than her uniform. She opted for an outfit somewhere in between. She pulled on dark skinny jeans and a navy blue sweater. She ran a brush through her shoulder length auburn hair. That would have to do, she thought. She would already be roughly seven years older than the average student straight out of high school, and she wanted to at least blend in.  


She made it to the classroom, her coffee in hand, with plenty of time to spare. The classroom looked as she had expected it to look, small and sparse. The desks were old school with the desktop connected to the seat. The board was still chalk, not dry erase. She took the seat in the front row, nearest the window and farthest from the front door. She liked seats that allowed her to sit up against a wall. The front desk, clearly her professors, was littered with books filled with Post-it notes sticking out from every direction and a laptop, the screen still on. Professor Earp must already be in the building, Nicole thought.  


Nicole pulled her own laptop out and started flicking through her work emails. There weren’t many as she had just joined the force and hadn’t been assigned any cases of her own yet, but there were links to articles in the local newspaper, and Nedley had thought to send her the notes from the past couple of months worth of morning meetings. Students had started to trickle into the room, the majority of them clustering on the other side of the room, already familiar with each other. She didn’t mind. She wasn’t here to make friends. She was here because work dictated that she be.  


With two minutes to go until class started, Nicole logged out of everything and powered down her laptop. She slid it back into her backpack, noticing all of the other students were doing the exact opposite. Nicole smiled to herself and pulled out a spiral notebook. She had never been one to take notes on a computer. She was too easily distracted by the internet. She much preferred good old pen and paper when it came to learning.  


There were ten other students in the room so far, all of them in their early twenties at most. Seven of the students, including herself, were female. She practiced her police training and did her best to memorize distinctive features: tattoos, piercings, any clothes or bags that stood out to her. This was a good room to practice on. All of the students seemed fairly normal. No one was particularly tall or had blue hair. There was only one visible tattoo in the entire room. Everyone was small town, rural America.  


Right at 8:00, the door opened again, Nicole’s eyes drifted to the intruder. She sat up a tad straighter. The young woman who entered was not at all mediocre or pass-over-able. Her honey brown hair was pulled into a long braid that hung over her shoulder. Her skirt was tight but conservative, coming down just past her knees. Her button-down shirt was tucked into it and opened just low enough to cause Nicole’s eyes to linger a second too long. Fortunately, the woman hadn’t noticed. She moved to the front desk confidently, set down the stack of papers she was carrying, and looked down at her watch.  


Everyone quieted down. The young woman seemed to have the same effect on the entire room. “Good Morning, Class. I’m your professor, Waverly Earp. Today will be pretty light. We’ll go over the syllabus. I’ll do a brief introduction of myself. We can do brief introductions for all of you, and then I’ll go over your extra credit assignments. Hint, other than office hours, this will be the only time I go over the extra credit; and it’s not written in the syllabus. So if you want extra credit, I suggest you take some notes today.” She smiled pleasantly before moving to pass out her syllabi.  


When she made it over to Nicole, sitting alone on the far side of the room, their eyes met. Nicole felt her face heat up. She smiled up at her new professor, made nervous by the effect this woman had on her without doing anything to merit it other than existing. Five chili peppers had not prepared her for the attractiveness of this woman. Nicole noticed a slight flush in the professor’s cheeks, the linger in her stare as she slowly relinquished her syllabus, and the way that she quickly spun and sauntered back up to her desk at the front of the room.  


Nicole hadn’t looked at the stapled packet in front of her yet. Her eyes were fixed on Professor Earp. The professor straightened her skirt before picking up her own copy of her syllabus. Her hazel eyes quickly flashed back to Nicole’s. Nicole bit down on the cap of her pen, a terrible habit that she had always intended to quit, though that was the last thing on her mind at present.  


Professor Earp cleared her throat, “Okay, so the syllabus. It’s pretty straight forward. There will be three tests, three papers, and three quizzes. As you can see, the chapters to be covered with each test and quiz are listed out, and I’ve already listed out options for your paper topics. Your papers can be any three of the ten options. If there’s a different bit of local history you’d like to write about, bring it to me during my office hours. I’d be more than happy to let you research outside of the scope of the class. I just need to know what you’re thinking in case I need to do any research of my own to give you a fair grade.” She smiled again, pausing for any questions.  


When there were no questions, she continued. “The tests make up fifty percent of your grade, the papers and quizzes make up twenty-five percent each. Hint number two, you’ll fail if you don’t read. We’ll do test reviews the class period before each test, but there’s a lot to cover and I never get through all of the material in time. I promise to do my best, but if you read, I promise, this class will be quick and painless. I know you’re going to ask, so yes, there is a curve. I make the highest grade in the class a 100 and adjust the rest up accordingly.”  


Nicole took basic notes, underlining the things she thought she might forget on her syllabus, but it was much like every other syllabus lecture she had ever been to. The point was always the same: You do your part; I’ll do mine. We’ll get along just fine. Professor Earp continued, much to Nicole’s dismay, rarely throwing glances her way. When she was done going through her packet, she walked around her desk and leaned back against the edge of it.  


“Alright, now for the fun bit.” Professor Earp said with a smile. “Here’s where we get to play a little introduction game to better get to know me and your fellow classmates. So we’ll do name, class level, major, and what you wanted to be when you were six. I’ll go first.” She smiled again before rattling off her list. “I’m Waverly, or Professor Earp, I’ve got a Master’s degree in Post Colonial North American History with an emphasis in Expansionism and subsequent law enforcement history. When I was six, I wanted to be a geologist.”  


This classroom chuckled. Professor Earp gestured to the kid at the front of the row opposite of Nicole. They worked their way through the room, one at a time rattling off their list. Most of the students were sophomores, and they had all wanted to be professional athletes or actors or Batman. Nicole now knew everyone’s names. She did her best to pay attention to their answers, but she was paying more attention to Waverly Earp’s reaction to the answers.  


“And last, but not least.” Professor Earp gestured over to Nicole.  


Nicole cleared her throat, “I’m Nicole, Nicole Haught. I’m actually here for work. I’m the new Sheriff’s Deputy. When I was six, I wanted to be a spy.” She heard the murmur from the student’s on the other side of the room, no doubt whispering to each other their dismay of having an active duty officer in class with them. Nicole knew that none of them would ever move closer, and that didn’t bother her one bit.  


“Welcome to Purgatory, Nicole.” Waverly said with a warm smile, her eyes locked onto Nicole’s. Finally she broke away. “Okay, on to extra credit. It’s really simple. You can do up to two extra papers, for five semester grade points each. That’s an entire letter grade up for grabs. They’re due the day of your final, but you’re welcome to turn them in early if you’d like. We clear? Any questions about today?” When no one raised their hand, the professor dismissed them.  


The other students all bolted. Nicole looked over the paper topics. She had already circled a few interesting law enforcement based topics she’d like to write about. Before she left, she wanted to pick out two more to do as extra credit topics. She added “Local legends: demons, ghosts, and witches” and one on Doc Holliday. When she looked up, she saw that her professor was staring at her. She had moved to sit behind her desk.  


“Which did you pick?” Professor Earp asked.  


Nicole smiled and stood, she took her packet over to her professor. She placed it down in front of the other woman, letting her see for herself.  


Waverly Earp beamed up at her. Nicole swallowed nervously, wondering which choice had excited her professor in such a way. The professor rifled through her messy stack of books in search of one in specific. When she found what she was looking for, she happily held it out for Nicole. “This one will help you with the Local Legends paper. 

My personal favorite.”  


Nicole took the book, careful to not make contact with her teacher, that would have been way too forward. She smiled, knowing full well that she was the cause of the glossy-eyes and the blush on her professor’s face. “Thanks, Professor.”  


She clocked the professor’s nervous swallow and the dilation in her pupils. Nicole smiled her easy, confident, and charming smile. Professor Earp licked her bottom lip. “If you need anything, seeing as you’re new to town, feel free to drop by my office or Shorty’s. My family owns it, so I’m usually there when I’m not here.”  


Nicole pulled her new business card out of the front pocket of her backpack. She held it out to her professor. “If you ever need anything, give me a call.”  


Professor Earp looked the card over. “Thanks, Officer… Haught. I will.”  


Nicole caught the pause before her professor had said her last name. In her experience with the last name of Haught, people only paused when calling her Haught made them nervous. As she left the classroom, she wondered how much trouble she would get into with the Sheriff’s department and the Community College if she tried to date her professor. Then she thought about Waverly Earp’s smile and wondered how much she cared.

*** 

A few weeks later, Nicole found herself tucked into a poorly lit booth in the back corner of Shorty’s. It had become her favorite place to study. She didn’t mind the tattered old booth with flaking leather seats or the fact that until it got crowded, it smelled like stale beer and burger grease and then when it did fill with people, it smelled like Axe Body Spray and whiskey.  


Not only had Nedley demanded that she take a local history course but also that she do better to mingle with the locals. The locals she had interacted with had really taken a shine to her. Old Mrs. Humphrey, Nicole’s next door neighbor would bake her a pie every Sunday in exchange for Nicole mowing her front pasture. Nicole didn’t mind the arrangement one bit. She had purchased a brand new riding lawn mower from the local feed store when she bought her house. She knew five acres was a good investment and well worth the upkeep. Mr. Terrance, an old farmer, would walk around the town square with her during her lunch hour and fill her in on all the local gossip. And professor/bartender Waverly Earp knew that when Nicole went to study at Shorty’s, she’d order two cappuccinos back-to-back, then a glass of ice water and, then, as the evening waned on, a pint of the darkest beer they had on tap in the coldest mug they had. As the weeks passed, Waverly had even started to save Nicole a frozen mug so she never had to drink from one at room temperature no matter how crowded Shorty’s got. As had become her norm, Nicole would work on school or her case reports until the bar would shut down every Saturday night.  


Tonight was no different for Nicole. It was getting later in the evening and she was casually chewing on the last bit of ice that lined the bottom of her water glass. She flipped through the pages of the book Professor Earp had let her borrow, reading about the legend of Purgatory’s demons. She smiled often while reading this book. As it belonged to Waverly, many lines had been underlined and notes had been made in the margins. None of them really made sense to Nicole. From what she could determine, most of the notes were dates or longitude and latitude lines. There were a few in symbols she couldn’t place as a language, and she hadn’t had the time to do any real research on them yet.  


“Wyatt Earp and His Curse” was the title of the next chapter. She looked over to where her favorite Earp was usually stationed. Despite her best judgement and best efforts, Nicole had become nothing short of infatuated with Waverly over the past several weeks. Her toned, usually visible abs, and disarming smile had only added to how beautiful she was when she lectured in class. She knew she was straight and that it was a terrible idea, but sometimes when Waverly’s glances lingered for just a moment too long when handing her test grades back in class or while she was pouring Nicole’s beer, Nicole really wondered how terrible of an idea it would really be. But at the moment, she couldn’t think about the fact that she and Waverly sometimes seemed the slightest bit flirty because at the moment, the younger Earp sister looked like she was about to kill Champ Hardy.  


In her last walk around the square with Mr. Terrance, Nicole had heard all the latest gossip on the breakup of the town’s sweetheart and her rodeo clown of a boyfriend, but Mr. Terrance had said, “Oh, don’t think nothing of it. They do this from time to time. Give them two months, and all will be right in the world again.”  
Nicole hadn’t mentioned that Waverly Earp being single had been the single greatest thing to happen since she had moved to Purgatory. Instead, she had commented flippantly about the weather vane in the center of the town never quite working.  


But tonight, Champ was staggering drunk and standing far too close to Waverly for Nicole’s comfort. She slid out of the booth, thankful she hadn’t already had her beer. She moved closer to the confrontation to better assess the situation.  


“Jesus, Champ. I’ve told you. I meant it. We’re done and you’re making a scene, a scene I don’t want to hear about later.” Waverly’s hands were fixed steadily on her hips, and she was glaring up into Champ’s glazed over eyes. Nicole took in Waverly’s body posture. The anger was coursing through the smaller woman. Waverly’s usually solid abs were flexed unnaturally tight. Her knuckles were going white with her grip on her own waist.  


Nicole mentally noted that Champ looked like he might be a little more under than influence than just the effects of alcohol, but he didn’t seem mad, per say. More just sad. And maybe like he was trying to prove himself. She didn’t know him well enough to know his motives for sure, but proving something to himself or to others would be the only logical reason for confronting Waverly in a bar full of almost half the town.  


“Waves, baby, baby. This is stupid. For once in your life, you’re being so stupid. We’re supposed to be together. I know it. Everyone here knows it. Why can’t you just stop being mad at me already and let me stay here with you tonight? I’ll uhhh… I’ll make it up to you.” He had bent his knees so that he was closer to her level and tried to wrap his arms around her waist. Nicole grit her teeth. It was not her place to intervene just because this guy was a condescending male chauvinist. She had to remain professional. She was in a public setting. An added benefit of studying there was to help the people of Purgatory enjoy their typically too rowdy bar in peace. She had yet to have to kick anyone out, and these last four Saturday’s had been the longest streak the bar had gone without having the cops called on them.  


Normally, just her presence did the trick. Waverly pushed Champ’s arms down and him back a step. He wobbled dramatically. “Champ, you need to go,” Waverly said firmly.  


Champ stumbled a step back in Waverly’s direction, but Nicole quickly stepped in between them. “I think it’s time to go, buddy. Ms. Earp here has asked you to leave.”  


Champ drunkenly looked Nicole over. “And who asked your opinion?” He waited for her answer. When it didn't come, he slurred on, “You’re not so great you know. Some fancy city cop or something. You don’t just get to come in here and…”  


“Champ. I’ve told you nicely. Look at me.” She gestured to her faded jeans and her low cut black V-neck T-shirt. “I’m not even on duty. I really don’t want to have to fill out a lot of paperwork. I just want you to leave. Okay? Ms. Earp asked you to leave. I’m not asking. I’m telling. It’s time for you to go.” Nicole spoke firmly but calmly. She managed to stay as nice as she possibly could.  


Finally, when he had determined it was a fight he couldn’t win regardless of the outcome, he nodded once dejectedly and stumbled out the front door, his face all screwed up in hurt and anger.  


Nicole spun to Waverly and kind of half smiled. The professor was clearly shaken, the effects of the adrenaline leaving her body without really being used. “He’s never been like that before. I mean, I guess I’ve never broken up with him for real before either, but that was…” Waverly exhaled. “Thank you, Officer.” Waverly reached out and rested her hand on Nicole’s arm.  


Nicole couldn’t tell which heated up faster, the skin under Waverly’s touch or the blush up her neck and cheeks. She felt her own smile slide into place. “You’re welcome.” Waverly’s hand remained on her forearm. “I’d much rather diffuse the situation than allow it to escalate. I hope I didn’t intrude.”  


Waverly looked down at her own hand, resting gently on Nicole’s arm. As if she suddenly realized what she was doing, she jerked her hand off. “You didn’t intrude.” Waverly smiled mischievously. “Your beer tonight is on me.” She raised an eyebrow. “And I insist you have at least two.” She spun and headed off towards her usual place behind the counter.  


Nicole sauntered back towards her booth. A few of the good townsfolk of Purgatory clapped her on the back on her way. Waverly wasn’t the only one who had decided to supply her alcohol that night. Three different people came around with a shot for her and a shot for them. She had tried to protest every time, but they had all reminded her that she was off duty and had stuck up for the town sweetheart. She had earned it.  


After the second shot, she had determined that she might not finish her homework for class, but she would definitely have successfully mingled. Nedley would be proud, she thought. That filled her with pride. She was doing well in her class, and the town was slowly warming up to her presence. She abandoned her booth after the third shot and plopped down on a stool at the bar. She leaned on the counter and rested her face in her palms and watched Waverly fill orders. At that moment, Nicole decided to let loose. She hadn’t just let herself have a good time since early on in the Sheriff’s Academy. The townsfolk were right. She had earned it.  


When Waverly noticed Nicole watching her, she blushed and immediately came to help her. “What can I get you, Officer?”  


Nicole shrugged. “I should probably switch to beer. I’ve not had this much liquor in a long time.” Letting loose did not have to mean making an ass of herself. She was very aware of how flirty she got when she was drinking, and she didn’t want to save Waverly just to turn herself into the problem. A happy buzz, that’s what she was going for.  


Waverly beamed. “Well, I can’t thank you enough.” Waverly saw Nicole’s unattended booth and the crowded bar and didn’t like the odds. “You should take your backpack upstairs. I don’t want you to lose your stuff.”  


Nicole looked over her shoulder at the contents of her bag strewn haphazardly across her booth. “You’re probably right, Professor. I didn’t know this bar was open to the public upstairs.”  


Waverly leaned in to whisper in Nicole’s ear. Nicole couldn’t help but notice Waverly’s cleavage in her low cut Shorty’s shirt or the way that, this close, Waverly smelled more like a mix of cinnamon and sunshine than she did the floral scent of her perfume. “It’s not open to the public,” Waverly said.  


Nicole frowned, confused. Her eyes drifted up the stairs and then met Waverly’s. “What’s up there?”  


Waverly laughed. “My apartment, silly. I don’t want your stuff to get stolen or spilled on. Go grab your bag. You can run it up.”  


“You live above the bar? I thought you lived with your sister?” Nicole was thoroughly confused and very aware of the alcohol-induced warmth that was starting to spread through her body. She could feel a faint hum clouding her brain.  


Waverly bit her bottom lip. “Since Wynonna has been back in town, I have been staying at the homestead, but most of my stuff is still here.”  


A crowd passed in front of the officer’s stuff and lingered there for some time before moving. Nicole watched them, making sure they left her things alone.“Okay. Yeah. I’ll go grab my bag.” Nicole pushed off the stool and went back to her favorite worn booth. She stuffed all of her books into the biggest pocket and slung it over her shoulder. She quickly scanned the booth to make sure she didn’t leave anything. It was clear. When she turned back around, Waverly Earp was waiting for her at the base of the wooden steps.  


Nicole followed Waverly up the rickety old staircase. It opened up to a narrow hallway with a door on either side. In front of one of the doors was a teal welcome mat that read “Hello” in a cutesy cursive script. Nicole never had anything like that. Police training had conditioned her to leave everything as nondescript as possible, but she couldn’t help but smile at how utterly Waverly the welcome mat seemed to be.  


Nicole steadied herself on the opposite wall while Waverly slid a key into the lock and opened the door. Nicole looked around the large studio apartment. It could have been broken up into rooms, it was big enough, but this layout suited the young woman in front of her. Nicole did her best to survey the room like a good officer would, but the faint hum of alcohol was getting stronger and the clouds in her brain were rolling in heavier by the minute. “I like your apartment, Professor. It’s cute, like you.” She paused. “I’m sorry. You can ignore me. I think I’m on the verge of being a little drunk? I’m definitely pushing past buzzed.”  


Waverly laughed. “You know, you don’t have to call me Professor.”  


“You don’t have to call me Officer.”  


“Okay, then. Nicole. Feel free to leave your bag here. And don’t worry about being drunk.” Waverly laughed. “You’re pretty cute, too.”  


Nicole’s mouth fell open, but she quickly shut it. She lowered her backpack off her shoulder and set it down on one of Waverly’s kitchen chairs choosing to just not respond to the other woman’s comment. “Thank you, Waverly.” Nicole smiled at her, intentionally trying to crease her dimples as deep as they would go.  


Waverly blushed, enjoying her name said in Nicole’s voice. “We should probably get back downstairs. I don’t want Gus to think I’ve abandoned her for the evening.”  


“Can I leave my keys up here? I don’t want them to fall off my belt loop. If I get much drunker, I’ll start to fidget with them and the key to my Police cruiser is on here.”  


“Sure! That’s not a problem.”  


Nicole left her keys on the kitchen table in front of her backpack and followed Waverly back out the front door. 

***

The next morning, Nicole’s eyes shot open. She was immediately blinded by the sunlight streaming into her view. She hissed in pain. Her head was throbbing. The last thing she remembered was playing pool and doing shots with a local guy named Pete and his brother Kyle. After that, the whole evening was a blur. She tried opening her eyes again. A kitchen faded into view. She frowned. The kitchen looked vaguely familiar. Its pots and pans hung from a pegboard behind the small counter space. Her eyes continued to wander around her surroundings. She did her best to take in details like she was trained to do. She saw a small kitchen table with her keys resting on top. It slowly dawned on her where she was. She was in Waverly Earp’s apartment above Shorty’s. She felt the bed shake from movement next to her. She slowly turned and looked at the figure stirring next to her. Waverly Earp was in bed in a tank top and underwear next to her. Nicole looked down at her own clothes, hoping to find some answers. She had on her bra and tank top and the black lace thong she had inexplicably decided to put on the evening before. She sank back down into the mattress, her head throbbing and her heart pounding, fear sinking in that she might have slept with Waverly and not remembered it.  


Waverly groaned, the bright light of the morning waking her too. “Ugh. Whose idea was it to move my blackout curtains to the homestead?”  


The younger Earp rolled over so that she was facing Nicole. Nicole watched as the Waverly’s eyes fluttered open and closed a few times trying to gain traction on waking up. A smile split across her face. “Good morning.”  


Nicole smiled back uneasily. “Hey.” She tried to sink deeper into the sheets.  


“You’re a riot when you’re drunk. The whole town loves you.” Waverly started to laugh.  


Nicole blushed. She couldn’t care what the town thought of her, not when the only person she had met whose opinion she cared about was laying in bed next to her practically naked. “Ummm, Waverly.” She took a really deep breath to brace herself for the question she was about to ask. “Did we?” She sighed anxiously. “Did we have sex?”  


Waverly started to crack up. She shook her head no. “Nope. You said, and I quote, ‘Waverly Earp, don’t you try to take advantage of me just because I’m drunk. If you want to sleep with me, you’ll have to wait until we’re sober.’”  


Nicole covered her head with the blankets. “Oh my God. I’m so embarrassed.”  


Waverly ducked under the covers, too. “Don’t be. Normally, people try to do the exact opposite with me. It was actually kind of wonderful.”  


Nicole sighed. She frowned, confused again. “So, wait. How did I end up in my underwear then?”  


At that Waverly really started to laugh. “Well, you refused my shorts, saying you didn’t wear shorts where your ass hung out and in my tiny shorts, your ass would be sure to hang out.”  


“But I’m in a thong.”  


Waverly was laughing so hard she could barely breathe. “I tried to explain that to you last night and you weren’t having it.”  


“So this is how I die. Of embarrassment in your bed.” Nicole’s face was redder than her hair.  


Waverly smiled at her. “You shouldn’t be embarrassed at all. You helped me clean up the bar. You made a great impression on all the regulars at Shorty’s. You saved me from Champ. And besides, you’ve got a nice ass.” Waverly winked at her and then rolled out of bed. She picked up her phone. “Oh, Jiminy Cricket. Wynonna has called me like eight times. I need to…”  


Waverly was cut short by a loud pounding on the door. “Waverly Earp, I swear if you are in there with Champ, I will beat your ass and then his.”  


“And that’s Wynonna.” Waverly bounced nervously. “What do we do?”  


Nicole was frozen. When she tried to move, the room spun. “I don’t know.” Her eyes were wide with fear. Wynonna pounded on the door again. “There aren’t many places to hide in your apartment,” Nicole whispered to Waverly, quiet enough so that Wynonna wouldn’t be able to hear. Though Nicole had only been in town for a few months, she had already learned that Hell hath no fury like Wynonna Earp scorned.  


“You want to hide in the closet?” Waverly was frantically looking around her tiny apartment for somewhere Nicole could hide.  


“Nope. Us lesbians, we have a thing about hiding in closets.” Nicole laid back in the bed and pulled the covers over her head. “I’m ready for the wrath of your sister.”  


“Really? Hiding under the sheets? What happen to the save Waverly attitude from last night?”  


Nicole groaned. “I’m hung over.” Wynonna pounded on the door again. “And your sister is scarier than Champ.”  


Waverly groaned and opened the front door. She immediately regretted not pulling on pants. Wynonna did a very obnoxious once over of her little sister. “Where is he?” Wynonna spat. She loudly pushed into the apartment. “Really? The bed? That’s dumb even for you, Champ.” Wynonna ripped back the sheets her fist cocked to swing, but she caught herself at the sight of shoulder length red hair. “What the…” She took in Nicole’s bra and tank top. “You’re that lady cop Dolls was an ass to the other day. What’s your name again?”  


Nicole kept her hand firmly gripped on the sheets so Wynonna wouldn’t be able to expose her lacy black thong. “Nicole. Nicole Haught. Nice to meet you.”  


Wynonna narrowed her eyes at the redhead. “Alright… Haught. Is that really your name? Is that like a German thing? Or?” Wynonna shook her head, focusing herself. “You know what? No. I don’t care that you have a porn name for a real name. Why did you kidnap my sister? And you…” She turned her rage back on her younger sister. “Why didn’t you at least text me?”  


Waverly sighed melodramatically to illustrate her frustration. “I don’t know, sis. Just because you moved back, you don’t just get to decide where I live and who I sleep with. You’ve been gone for three years. You don’t get to be mad at me because I spend the night with someone else, away from home.”  


Wynonna eyes widened and shot back to Nicole. “Did you have sex with my sister?” It was a diversion away from all of the issues her younger sister had just listed, but she wasn’t about to get into all of that in front of the clearly hungover cop in her sister’s bed. Not when she knew that some of these issues stemmed from the Earp curse and the fact that she was the heir.  


Nicole shook her head no and regretted it immediately. “No. Nope. For one, we were both way too drunk for that. And for two, I don’t sleep with straight girls. I stopped having fun being a science experiment in college. Also, she’s technically my professor and part of a work assignment for me. So, no. I just got really drunk at the bar and your sister was kind enough to let me crash and she was smart enough to do the same.” She was having a hard time focusing on the older Earp sister. She was trying to look anywhere but the swaying fringe of the girl’s leather jacket.  


“Are you going to puke?” Wynonna took a step back away from the bed.  


“No. I just got dizzy when I shook my head. I think I’m still drunk.” Nicole pulled the sheets back up to her chin. “I should go home. I have to feed my cat.”  


“Is that a euphemism?” Wynonna asked.  


Nicole laughed at that. “No. I have a cat. Her name is Calamity Jane.”  


Waverly giggled from the door. “That’s adorable.” She was still mad at her sister, but Nicole was unreasonably cute. Even when hungover.  


Wynonna rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her little sister. “Okay. Now that I know you’re not dead and that you didn’t make terrible decisions….” She took a step towards the door, but at the sound of Nicole’s groan again, she spun back. “Here, Haughtstuff, let me at least help you up.” She extended her hand to the redhead.  


Nicole felt all the color drain from her face. She wasn’t wearing anything but that black lace thong. “You know, I think it might be best if I stayed down. I might need to sleep this off a bit more. If that’s not intruding on Waverly. I don’t really think I can drive home.”  


Wynonna laughed. “Sorry I missed the party last night. You look like you must be a riot when drunk.” Wynonna headed back towards the door.  


“She’s a total riot. She out drank Pete and Kyle.” Waverly confirmed.  


Wynonna chuckled, impressed. “Alright, Baby Girl. Tonight. You, me, and a bottle of bubblegum sake.” She smiled softly at her sister. “Sorry for intruding on your… whatever this was.” She pointed at Waverly’s attire and raised an eyebrow. Her back was to Nicole, so the officer wouldn’t have caught her insinuation, but she did notice the way that Waverly clenched her jaw and blushed like crazy at the jab. “Feel better, Haughtpants.”

***

Monday morning, Nicole sipped her coffee and waited impatiently for Waverly to enter her classroom. She’d awkwardly left Waverly’s apartment not long after Wynonna had. Waverly had offered to drive her home, but Nicole had assured her she had been overplaying her hangover so that she wouldn’t have to stand up in front of Wynonna. The air had been weird between them after Wynonna left though, and Nicole hadn’t been sure why. Nor had she really wanted to ask. She did know that Waverly hadn’t looked away when Nicole stood up to put on her pants. Nicole didn’t know how to take anything that had happened from Saturday night to Sunday morning. She knew that there had been definitely flirty moments between her and Waverly, but she meant it when she told Wynonna she was tired of being a science experiment. She had done that one too many times. But if Waverly was just openly not straight, would that make her a science experiment? Being someone’s first would be far different from being someone’s test run. Right? Then there was the fact that Waverly was still her teacher and Nicole was expected to take this class for work. So, the whole thing was honestly just a terrible idea. Nicole sighed and took another sip of her coffee.  


With just two minutes to spare, Waverly entered the classroom. She greeted all of the other students who had never dared to venture closer to Nicole and then smiled a warm smile in the officer’s direction. Nicole’s eyes raked over the young professor. Her crisp white button-down shirt was unbuttoned tantalizingly low. While her dark grey skirt hit her knee-high back leather boots, it clung to Waverly’s hips in just the right ways and the slit up the side revealed just enough of Waverly’s thigh to make her mouth water. Waverly’s hair was down and had been straightened. She flipped it back over her shoulder and said, “just a reminder, class, your papers are due on Friday. If you need help with them, please don’t hesitate to come see me during my office hours. I’m strongly encouraging you to bring me any drafts that you’ve gotten put together.” Waverly’s announcement had snapped Nicole back to focus.  


She had asked Sheriff Nedley last Friday if he would mind if she was a little late to her shift today. She had told him that she needed to visit Professor Earp’s office hours today. She hadn’t written a paper in years. Reports, absolutely. But not a college level research paper. She had written her first paper on Local Law Enforcement Through the Ages. She had finished it really early on in the semester and had started working on her second, Local Legends. She hadn’t done any reading yesterday and was regretting it. She wasn’t even halfway through the book yet. She had put unnecessary pressure on herself by reminding herself that it was Waverly’s favorite topic.  


She did her best to pay attention in class, but her thoughts kept drifting back to Waverly’s apartment and the younger woman standing in her kitchen in her underwear. Nicole chewed on the cap of her pen. She loved to hear Waverly lecture. If all of her professors had loved their subject the way that Waverly loved the history of the Ghost River Triangle, Nicole would have enjoyed college a lot more. She graduated just shy of a 4.0, but it hadn’t all been enjoyable. She knew that Waverly was almost to Wyatt Earp week, and her lectures were getting particularly animated as she set the backdrop for the class. She painted the picture of the outlaws who roamed the land unchecked and wild. She had a rather detailed power point presentation for this lecture. Nicole found herself watching Waverly present more than she was watching the slides. She knew that she had spent the good majority of the class period smiling. Her cheeks were going to be sore from a history lesson.  


She also noticed that every time Waverly looked at her, she smiled as well. When the hour was up, Nicole was both excited and sad that class was over. Sad because she had genuinely enjoyed her hour learning about the big bad outlaws of the wild west and excited because she knew she was about to go visit Professor Earp’s office hours. Waverly dismissed the class with another reminder that their first round of papers were due on Friday and encouraged them all to come visit her in her office hours. As to be expected, all of the students bolted as soon as she dismissed them. All except for Nicole. Nicole packed up her backpack carefully. It had taken her a solid fifteen minutes to get it all organized back on Sunday to be exactly how she liked it, and she wasn’t about to play that game again.  


She looked up when she heard the soft clack of Waverly’s leather boots approaching her desk. “That was a great lecture,” she said, smiling.  


Waverly blushed, the swagger of her determined walk turned into a self-conscious fidget. “You’re just being nice.”  


Nicole’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You’re kidding, right? You’re an amazing professor.”  


Waverly smiled at her, clearly uncomfortable with the positive attention. “Well, thanks. How was the rest of your Sunday?”  


“Well, I mowed and took a nap and played with Calamity and organized my bag and avoided all other productive chores.” She laughed. “How about you? Was Wynonna still mad at you?”  


“Wynonna had no right to be mad at me in the first place.”  


“At least she’s trying,” Nicole said with a shrug. She wasn’t dismissing Waverly’s side and she definitely wasn’t taking Wynonna’s, but Nicole’s parents didn’t even know she had taken this position in Purgatory, and they were alive and well.  


“You have a point. She is finally trying. I shouldn’t push away her efforts.”  


“No. You shouldn’t. But standing up for yourself is never a bad thing.” Nicole stood up from her desk and pulled her backpack up over her shoulder. “So, Professor, can I visit your office hours today?”  


Waverly smiled again. “Why of course, Officer. If you’ll come with me.” Waverly gestured towards the door.  


Nicole bit back a remark akin to “That’s what she said,” and instead just smiled and let Waverly lead the way. The college campus was small. Smaller than Nicole’s high school had been, even. But it was nice. They had done their best to evoke school pride and give it some sort of a collegiate feel. There were nice columns and arched windows. The school colors, white and royal blue, were everywhere. There were flyers for student organizations taped up along the halls. There were even reminders that winter was coming and that The Ghost River Triangle was expecting its first snowfall by the end of the month. That made Nicole laugh. It was still eighty degrees outside. This whole area was a mystery to Nicole. She wondered if she would ever feel like it was home, if the town’s oddities and unexplainable mysteries would ever feel normal.  


Nicole followed Waverly through the offices. Nicole was a graduate of a top four year university. The fact that every professor’s office was in one building was baffling to her, let alone the fact that they were all right next to each other. Waverly counted the doors as they passed them. Nicole wondered if it was how she remembered which office she was or if it was an adorable quirk where Waverly just counted doors. She now knew that Waverly was eleven offices in on the left hand side of the hall. “This is me,” Waverly said with a smile, and she waved her hand in display of her name beside her door.  


Nicole smiled at her. She could sense the pride Waverly had in her accomplishment and rightfully so. She was only twenty-one and teaching a college course. And she was doing a fantastic job. Nicole followed her in through the light colored door. The office was small, but it reflected Waverly well academically. There were about one hundred books on Purgatory, The Ghost River Triangle, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and the wild west in general all stuffed into a bookcase. Her walls were decorated in framed maps which showed the progression of The Ghost River Triangle over time, all the different county lines and city lines as they had changed over the past two hundred years or so. She also had a few framed “Wanted” signs as well. Nicole looked at them curiously. One of them, a Father Mallack, was a historical figure Waverly had talked about in class earlier. “Are these real?” Nicole asked, her eyes moving from frame to frame.  


Waverly had already slid around her desk. It was an oversized wooden corner desk that took up about eighty percent of her office. It was fortunate she was such a small person. Nicole knew from the room that Waverly must not have claustrophobia, though. The room itself was at most an eight-by eight. Nicole took note of the rugs on the floor, patterned in stylish Aztec prints that matched the old west decor nicely. Waverly walked back around her desk and stood next to Nicole. “Yeah, they’re all real. This map is my favorite.” Waverly pointed at one map in specific.  


“Why’s that?” Nicole asked, turning to look at Waverly.  


“It’s the boundary lines as Wyatt Earp knew them.” She smiled. “This is his Ghost River Triangle.”  


“That’s incredible,” Nicole whispered. She meant it. The Ghost River Triangle was bigger then. There wasn’t another major town for many miles at the time, so Purgatory was the central hub from the Rockies west for quite a ways.  


When Nicole looked back at Waverly, she realized that Waverly had been watching her study the map. Waverly blushed when she realized she had been caught mid stare. She cleared her throat awkwardly, trying to ease some of the tension that always seemed to build between the two of them. “So uhh… what can I help you with, Nicole?”  


“Oh! Right. I was wondering if you’d look over my first paper? It’s been quite some time since I’ve written an actual paper. I’m afraid my technical reporting nature might have butchered my ability to write in proper sentences.” She was a little embarrassed, but it was the truth. And she knew that even if her paper was terrible, Waverly wouldn’t think less of her.  


“You know Nedley asked me to just grade you on a pass/fail structure, right?” Waverly asked smiling.  


Nicole nodded. “Yeah, I know. But I still want to do a good job, and I’m actually learning a lot. So I thought maybe you wouldn’t mind letting me know if there are any areas I should or could improve?”  


“Sure, let’s see what you’ve got.” Waverly walked back around her desk and had a seat in her big leather rolling chair.  


Nicole smiled and sat down opposite her. She pulled a manilla folder out of her bag and handed it to Waverly over the desk. “It’s on Local Law Enforcement Through the Ages.”  


“Perfect. And what kind of notes do you want? Grammar? context? Do you just want to know if you’re going to pass?” Waverly asked, her face serious.  


“All of the above.” Nicole said with a smile.  


“Okay.” Waverly smiled back. “Just give me a few minutes.” She grabbed a purple pen off her desk and went to work.  


Nicole pulled out her laptop and finished inputting some notes from a case she was working on. The silence wasn’t heavy between them. They just worked in casual silence across from each other. Nicole had never been able to do that with someone before. Usually the work just never seemed to get done. It didn’t surprise her, though, that someone as driven as Waverly would be able to just get down to business when she needed to.  


About twenty minutes into their silence, Waverly looked up from the paper. “Can I ask you a question?” she asked.  


Nicole nodded. “The paper’s terrible, isn’t it?”  


“What?” Waverly looked down at the paper. “No. Your paper’s great, actually. I’ve only made a few corrections. You’re sitting at probably a high B already. It’ll definitely be an A if you change even half of these things.”  


“Oh, well cool. Then, yeah. What’s up?”  


“Yesterday morning.” Waverly started.  


“Yeah, I’m sorry I got so drunk.” Nicole blushed again.  


Waverly chuckled. “No, not that. You just said something to Wynonna that I wanted to ask you about.”  


“Oh.” Nicole felt her heartbeat start to pound faster and her mouth dry up. “Okay.”  


“You said you don’t sleep with straight girls.” Waverly frowned.  


Nicole clenched her jaw and took a deep breath. “Yeah. I uhh… Kind of got my heart broken once or twice in college because they wanted to see what having sex with women was all about. They each took about six month breaks from their boyfriends and spent them with me. Then when it came time to either make it official or move on, they uhhh… went back to their exes.” Nicole cleared her throat awkwardly. She hadn’t expected to talk to Waverly about her relationship history today.  


“Oh. Well, that’s pretty shitty.” Waverly said.  


Nicole let out a laugh. “Yeah, definitely wasn’t an enjoyable experience for me. So, after the last one, I said no more. No more being a science experiment.” She noticed Waverly’s face fall ever so slightly. “I’m not opposed to bisexual women. I’m not super concerned with someone’s sexual past other than for health reasons. You know? I just… don’t want to be the tool someone uses to figure out who they are.” Waverly’s face fell a bit further. Nicole swallowed nervous. “Why uhhh… Why do you ask?”  


Waverly smiled softly. “No reason. You just—You seemed pretty set on that, so I wondered what happened. I guess I’d just like to be your friend. So, I thought it’d be good to learn a bit about you.”  


Nicole felt the air leave her body when Waverly used the word friend. Nicole had just royally messed up any possibility to ever be with Waverly Earp. She made herself the mascot of the friend-zone. It was for the best, she reminded herself. She didn’t know what she would do if the one person she cared about so far in Purgatory, the town sweetheart no less, broke her heart. It definitely wouldn’t help her career. Nedley had fought hard to get her out here. She knew she was making more money than everyone else in her Sheriff academy’s graduating class. She wasn’t sure how Nedley had afforded it, but he’d put a really enticing package together for her. She had had to sign a five-year contract to get it, though. She thought about what Waverly had just said and nodded finally. “I would very much like to be your friend, too.” Nicole smiled. The smile didn’t reach her eyes, but it was warm.  


“Good.” Waverly said with a certain finality. She looked back down at Nicole’s paper and kept working.  


Nicole went back to reading notes from all of the stand-ups Nedley had sent her. She wasn’t retaining any of the information. Her thoughts were too focused on Waverly’s question. It was too late. There was no retracting it. What would she say? I would change my mind though, for the right person? That sounded terrible. Fortunately, Waverly finished her paper soon after she went back to work on it.  


“Okay. You’re all set. Why don’t you look at some of the suggestions and see if you’ve got any questions.” She stacked the papers together, set them back in Nicole’s manilla folder, and handed them back across the desk.  


Nicole flipped through them. Other than a few grammatical things here and there, Waverly had put a few smiley faces and written “Tell me more” and she had made a few notes in the bibliography section. For the most part, it was clear. Nicole wasn’t always sure what Waverly meant by the “Tell me mores,” so she asked.  


“Oh! I just meant you were really doing great in those passages. Don’t be afraid to keep going. I gave you a three page minimum. The paper reads like you have a lot to say on the matter. You’re a great resource for your own paper here. Don’t be afraid to use it.” Waverly beamed. “Fix the grammar and the bibliography and you get an A. Add more to the paper, and you get an A plus. Turn it in now, and you get a P for pass. As it is, it’s going to be the best paper I get anyways.”  


Nicole nodded. “Thanks, Professor.” She smiled and winked. She dropped the paper back into its spot in her bag and stood. “I guess I’ll see you on Wednesday morning.”  


Waverly stood as well. “Of course.” Nicole turned to leave. “Hey, Nicole?”  


Nicole spun back around.  


“Poker night!” Waverly exclaimed.  


Nicole raised an eyebrow. “What?”  


“This Saturday, instead of going to Shorty’s, Wynonna and I are hosting a poker night. Well, I’m hosting. Wynonna is drinking. Dolls and John Henry want to play and Wynonna and I want it to stay civil. They don’t really like each other.”  


Nicole laughed. It was obvious that the two men didn’t like each other. They both clearly had feelings for Wynonna. “Okay, yeah. I could do that. Can you text me your address? I can give you my number.”  


Waverly smiled. “ I have it. You gave me your card on the first day of class.”  


Nicole blushed. Waverly had kept her business card. “Right. Well then, yes. That sounds like fun. Thanks for the invitation.” At the door Nicole leaned back into Waverly’s office. “Have a nice day.”  


“You, too!” Waverly called after her. 

***

Nicole pulled down an unfamiliar dirt lane. She checked the GPS on her phone again. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, she moved closer to her destination dot. She was glad she was in her pickup truck and not the cruiser. Not just because she was practically off-roading, but because she wasn’t entirely convinced that Wynonna wouldn’t try to shoot at the cruiser or defile it in some way. In the past week, the older Earp had, in her own way, let Nicole know that she was excited the officer was going to come play poker with them. But that really just entailed stealing her cup of coffee right after it had finished brewing or yelling “I can’t wait to party with you this weekend, Haughtpants!” across the desks in the Sheriff’s station. That had resulted in Nedley having a one-on-one meeting in his office where he warned her to stay away from Wynonna Earp. She had tried to convey that Waverly was the closest thing to a friend she had in Purgatory. To which he had replied, “Now, Deputy, that’s none of my business. But for the record, Waverly Earp is an amazing young woman. Don’t do anything to hurt her. That girl has been through more than enough for three lifetimes. Understand?” She had just nodded dumbly, unsure of what he thought she had meant when she called Waverly a friend, and made an awkward exit from his office.  


Now here she was, driving down a dirt road looking for an Earp mailbox that Waverly had mentioned as a marker. Sure enough, down on the right was a light gray mailbox with the name Earp. She flicked on her blinker and pulled into the driveway to the Earp Homestead. She had brought a bag in case she got incredibly drunk again. She didn’t take it up to the front door, though. She wasn’t going to impose upon Waverly’s efforts for friendship. But if Wynonna got her drinking like she thought was going to be Wynonna’s aim, she at least came prepared. She did however carry bottle of whiskey to share and a six pack of beer of her favorite beer up the few porch steps.  


She knocked on the front door that had been freshly painted a grayish-brown and decorated with a fall themed wreath. The welcome mat here wasn’t teal. It was much more traditional. She had seen fun young, first apartment Waverly. And she had seen Professor Waverly, who framed the maps she hung on the walls. She wondered if this was going to be a more grownup side of Waverly or if the sisters had actually compromised on decorations.  


Dolls opened the door rather suspiciously. He scanned the whole front yard “Hey, Haught. Come on in.”  


Nicole frowned and looked behind her. “You expecting someone, Deputy Marshall?”  


He relaxed and smiled, opening the door much wider. “No, you just can never be too careful.”  


Nicole nodded. Dolls was a little weird. She had noted that a while back. But he was thorough, and she did really want to eventually be included in his Black Badge Division. As she stepped through the front door, a part of her couldn’t believe that she had just entered Waverly’s house. The living room was to her right. She scanned it quickly. It looked like the sisters had compromised, maybe Waverly had determined how many pillows they had and Wynonna had picked the color scheme. Dolls lead her to her left into the kitchen where the friends had converted the kitchen table into a poker table. Waverly was no where to be seen. Nicole looked around, confused.  


“Hey, Haughtshot.” Wynonna said without looking up. “Waverly is upstairs. Something about needing to look good tonight. Which why? But whatevs. She’ll be down eventually.” Wynonna shrugged. She was too deeply focused on her hand of cards to notice the reaction on Nicole’s face.  


John Henry’s eyes, however, had shot straight to Nicole’s, his face grimacing. Nicole’s eyes left his to find the staircase. When her attention turned back to the table, John Henry had stopped looking nervously embarrassed on Waverly’s behalf and, instead, he looked amused. Nicole decided to shake it off. “Where should I put all this?” She asked, holding up her stash of alcohol.  


“Fridge should be pretty empty.” Wynonna said, concentrating on the game at hand. “Show ‘em.” She nodded in John Henry’s direction.  


A smug smile slid across his face as he lowered his cards onto the table. Wynonna shrieked in excitement. She laid her cards out next. She had beaten him, a full house to his flush. “I guess I better go have a smoke before we start playing with chips. Good game, darlin,’” He said in his old school southern accent.  


“I’m going to go get Waves and tell her I just kicked Do… John Henry’s ass,” Wynonna said. Nicole’s eyes widened, assuming that Wynonna had almost just called John Henry, Dolls.  


“So is that like an act with him? Or does he really think he’s from the 1800’s?” Nicole asked the Deputy Marshall when both John Henry and Wynonna were out of earshot.  


Dolls actually laughed. “No comment,” He said, but he let out another surprisingly easy chuckle.  


Nicole smiled at him and cracked open a beer. Her mouth fell open before she could even have a sip, though. Waverly Earp, standing at the top of the staircase, was easily the single most beautiful thing Nicole had ever seen. Waverly had on a tight-fitting, silver, two-piece, top/skirt combo with black tights on underneath. Nicole wasn’t trying to stare, but she would swear that the strip of skin visible between the low cut top and the high-waisted skirt was glistening in the low light of the house. She swallowed nervously and waved awkwardly. She jerked her hand down when she realized she had just waved. “Hey, Waverly.”  


Waverly’s smile brightened the entire room. “Hey, Nicole.” She descended the staircase in what felt like slow motion to Nicole.  


Nicole nervously sipped at her beer. She had played it conservative with her outfit choice for the night, apparently. She had just worn her favorite pair of jeans and a blue plaid flannel shirt left open over a black tank top.  


“Shots?” Wynonna said with a clap.  


Dolls smiled and pushed off the door frame where he had posted up during the remainder of the previous game. John Henry came back in from the back porch, his eyes quickly assessing Waverly’s outfit and the fact that Nicole Haught was as red as her hair.  


Wynonna flipped over five shot glasses and filled them with her current bottle of whiskey. “To friends,” Waverly said, a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. “Old and new,” She added.  


The group clinked their glasses together and tilted their heads back in unison. Nicole immediately regretted not preparing a chaser other than beer. She got the feeling that Wynonna chased her whiskey with more whiskey. John Henry handled it just as well. Waverly’s face crinkled, and she shook her head a bit. Only Nicole and Dolls really reacted. They were severely outclassed in the drinking department. Nicole braced herself for another night of inadvisably heavy drinking.  


“Alright, John Henry, deal us all in.” Wynonna said, taking her seat back at the table.  


Nicole sat in-between John Henry and Waverly. Nicole wasn’t bad at poker. In fact, she was pretty good. But with the way John Henry could shuffle, she wasn’t too sure she was going to stand a chance. Wynonna passed out the chips and set the buy-in house rules. They were playing Nicole’s favorite, Texas Hold ‘em. She felt like this game took the most skill. After looking at her hand, she bought in and raised them all. Waverly raised an eyebrow at her, trying to study her face. Looking for a tell. Nicole just laughed and sipped her beer.  


Waverly was the first one completely out. Wynonna soon followed her on what was an attempted power play over Nicole that backfired. She swore and cursed all gingers everywhere. Nicole simply thanked her for doubling her pot. Nicole actually picked her next hand up as opposed to just peaking at them and leaving them facedown on the table. She held them just slightly angled, so Waverly could watch her hand with her. It was a risky maneuver, Nicole knew. Waverly had the worst poker face at the table, but it had also gotten the other woman to scoot her chair closer to her. The game continued for several rounds with John Henry and Nicole slowly edging Dolls out of the game.  


Finally, the Deputy Marshall pushed his chips all in. Nicole looked at her cards. She had an ace and a jack. A seven, queen, and a ten were face up on the table. If a king flipped in either the river or the flop, Nicole would almost undoubtedly push Dolls out of the game. Waverly’s hand nervously squeezed Nicole’s thigh, clearly doing her best to contain her reaction. Nicole fought every urge to react. She blinked once, and that was it. It was enough for John Henry to fold.  
Wynonna had turned into the all time dealer. She burned a card and then flipped a card. It was a seven. Worst case, Nicole would have a pair of sevens, ace high. If Dolls was holding a pair or worse, a seven though, she’d lose if the next card wasn’t a king. As Dolls had nothing left to bet, Wynonna burned another card and flipped the last. It was a king.  


“What you got, Haught?” Dolls asked, a cocky tone underlying his voice.  


She laid her cards out. “Straight flush.”  


Dolls cracked up. “Dang, girl. You got me. Four of kind on sevens.” He reached across the table and shook her hand. “Well won.”  


John Henry tipped his hat to her. Wynonna poured out another round of shots before dealing Nicole and John Henry back in. Waverly didn’t remove her hand from Nicole’s thigh. Instead she took her shot with her free hand. “I need… uhh… another beer,” Nicole said. She got up and grabbed two more beers for herself from the refrigerator. “Does anyone need anything else?”  


At his request, she passed John Henry the most recently opened bottle of whiskey and then took her seat back. Waverly smiled at her when she sat down. Nicole had never felt so many emotions come from one smile. “Hey, John Henry. How would you feel about going blind all in for one last hand?”  


He smiled at her. “I think that is a superb idea.” His southern drawl got thicker the more intoxicated he got.  


Nicole gulped down a significant portion of one of her beers. She didn’t want the second one to get warm, so she’d need to get through the first quickly. Wynonna dealt them in. They played face up. They were all in, so it didn’t matter. Nicole was dealt two fours. John Henry, a king and a six. Nicole was sitting on the edge of her seat. Wynonna burned a card and then flipped three. There was nothing either of them could really use. As long as Wynonna didn’t flip a king or a six, Nicole would win. Waverly scooted up to the edge of her seat as well. She squeezed Nicole’s thigh again, but didn’t let her hand linger this time.  


Wynonna burned a card and then flipped. It was a seven. Nothing that either of them could use. Wynonna burned one and then flipped the last card. It was a six. John Henry beat her with a pair of sixes. His eyes widened excitedly. Despite his ridiculous mustache, he looked really young when he got excited. Nicole laughed, slightly deflated, but she had beaten Dolls by skill. She didn’t mind losing at a blind all in. She shook John Henry’s hand.  


“Good show, Haughtstuff.” Wynonna said while starting to pass all the chips out for another game.  


“Thanks,” Nicole said, blushing at the compliment from the more frank, definitely more intoxicated Earp.  


Nicole finished her beer and cracked open the second one she had brought back to the table.  


“Do you want to see the rest of the house before we start a new game?” Waverly asked.  


Nicole swallowed nervously. “Yeah. Sure.”  


“Well, I figure you’ve had about what, four shots over all and four beers? You can’t drive home. The least I can do is show you where the bathroom is.” Waverly smiled her most charming smile.  


Nicole laughed. “That’s a fair point. Lead the way. Now that you mention it, I don’t know how I haven’t had to pee yet.”  


Waverly chuckled. She led Nicole up the stairs. “Okay, so upstairs there’s a bathroom and my room.” She gestured to a door to her left. “Bathroom.” She leaned in and turned the light on for Nicole to see. “And this, this is my bedroom.” She entered her room. Nicole leaned up against the doorframe, not sure she should enter.  


Waverly had a queen-sized wrought-iron bed, a desk, a shelf that was as stuffed as the bookcase in her office, a dresser, and grey blue walls. It didn’t look finished yet, but it was a cute room.  


“I like it.” Nicole said with a smile, still looking around.  


Waverly took a deep, steadying breath.  


Nicole frowned, concerned.  


“Can I just say something?” Waverly asked.  


“Yeah, sure. What’s up?”  


“I’m attracted to you.” Waverly clenched her jaw. “But I’ve never been with a girl. In any capacity. I’ve never even kissed one.” Waverly frowned. She shook her head, urging herself to continue. “I don’t view you as an experiment. I think you’re one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. And you’re smart. And you make me laugh. And you’re respectful of me even when blackout drunk. And you’re the most beautiful human being I’ve ever seen. And I know that you don’t date straight girls, but even though I don’t know what I am, I don’t think I can call myself straight if I like you.”  


Nicole smiled. Her dimples cutting deeper than they ever had in her entire life. “I uhhh… I like you, too.”  


Waverly’s look went from one of nervousness and concern to utter happiness. “Really?”  


Nicole nodded. “Absolutely.”  


“What about the experiment thing?” Waverly asked cautiously.  


Nicole smiled. “I don’t get the feeling that you’d do that to me.”  


Waverly closed the gap between them, not letting her nerves get the best of her. Nicole hadn’t been expecting Waverly to kiss her seconds after that declaration. She almost dropped her beer in shock. Waverly’s lips had hit her with a perfect force. The younger woman’s fingers had immediately tangled themselves in Nicole’s hair. Nicole’s free hand gripped Waverly’s forearm. She didn’t want it to drunkenly roam anywhere it shouldn’t.  


Nicole’s heart was pounding. Waverly was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen and she had Nicole effectively pinned against a doorframe. The officer knew from her scan of the room that there was desk surface to her right within range for her to set down her beer bottle without breaking the best kiss of her life. She blindly reached. As soon as the beer bottle was down and steady, Nicole gently placed her newly freed hand on the small of Waverly’s back. She could feel her lower back muscles in the gap of her shirt. Nicole pulled the smaller girl tighter to her, still.  


They broke after some time. Nicole’s hair was disheveled and they were both slightly out of breath. Waverly blushed and she tucked herself into Nicole’s embrace, resting her head in the crook of Nicole’s neck. “Hey, Waverly?” Nicole asked.  


Waverly leaned back and starred up into Nicole’s chocolate brown eyes. “What?”  


“Will you go on a date with me?”  


Waverly nodded, smiling. “Yes. Of course.”  


Nicole leaned down and kissed Waverly again. This kiss was gentle, not frenzied. Gentle and happy. A kiss that promised many more kisses to come.  


“Hey, you two. Are we going to play again? Or what?” Wynonna yelled from the base of the stairs.  


Waverly giggled. Nicole nodded once. “I guess I should get used to that.” She reached over and grabbed her beer. She followed Waverly back down the stairs running her fingers through her hair, trying to hide the evidence of the kissing.  


“Jesus, Haught.” Wynonna said when they made it into the kitchen.  


Nicole froze. Her eyes widened. Despite the fact that she had just had the best kiss of her life, this was the fastest her heart had pounded all evening. “What?”  


“You suck at putting chapstick on.” Wynonna rolled her eyes. “I thought you lesbians were all about chapstick.”  


Nicole blushed. Waverly had had on lip gloss. Her brain had been too busy short circuiting to even notice. Waverly looked like she might throw up. They both quickly wiped the edges of their mouths, trying to reconcile any damage Wynonna might also notice. Dolls and John Henry exchanged knowing and amused looks. Wynonna just shrugged and dealt the cards. Nicole breathed a shallow sigh of relief.  


“Alright everyone. This time we’re playing Five Card Draw.” Wynonna said.  


Waverly found Nicole’s hand under the table. She slid her fingers through Nicole’s and smiled. Nicole looked around the table of people she had found herself playing poker with. Never once had she made such a good group of friends. She had been in Purgatory for a few months, and she was starting to feel at home. She chuckled to herself. She would have to thank Nedley on Monday for making a local history course a requirement.


End file.
